Grasshopper had not been given as much gunnery training as Phillips would have wished, but she still loaded her carronades twice as fast as the enemy could load his long guns, and fired them first. This time, the brigs being almost beam to beam, those carronades were charged with grape and case shot, and the carnage was horrendous.
It seemed half of the enemy’s deck crew was down. One blast of case shot had cleared her quarterdeck, and she seemed to no longer under command. Captain Wilson decided to give the enemy one more broadside, then board her.
However, a small French frigate was fast approaching, with Supérieure right behind. The frigate was approaching on Grasshopper’s port beam. Her guns there, unfired so far in the action, were loaded with ball and she fired them at long range, before the frigate could come around.
Some of the balls fell short, but more struck, including a few ‘between wind and water’. Supérieure, following the enemy frigate, came about, and fired her broadside into the enemy’s stern. Her long sixes reached their target handily, while the twelve pounder carronades just reached. One of the low velocity balls reached the stern post and jammed the rudder. With the enemy frigate now out of control, Supérieure backed her main tops’l and parked herself on the enemy’s stern, pumping shot into the frigate, while Grasshopper tended to her first adversary.
That brig was boarded with small loss of men. Most of the surviving crewmen went over the side as Grasshopper’s men came aboard. Not considering the brig worth saving under the present conditions, she was set afire and abandoned.
Grasshopper then turned her attention to the frigate Supérieure was savaging. As she came around on the enemy’s bow, she fired those thirty two pounder carronades down the length of the enemy hull. The tricolor was run down, and Wilson sent a boarding party over. They were just in time to see an officer touch a smoldering slow match to a train of gunpowder.
Not knowing what that train was connected to, the party lost no time in evacuating the enemy ship. Their boat beat a retreat to Grasshopper, and, using his speaking trumpet, Captain Wilson told Captain Anderson on Supérieure of the problem.
Both sloops were moving away from the enemy frigate, when there was a low-order ‘Whump’ of an explosion. Probably an unconfined charge of powder; perhaps an open keg, or maybe a pile of gun cartridges. There was no immediate effect at first, until someone noticed smoke coming out of the after hatch.
Crowds of seamen aboard the enemy ship began running around frantically. A longboat was towing behind the ship, and that was pulled up and men piled in. Before it was filled though, the men already in the boat cast off and began rowing away.
It seemed the other boats aboard the now burning frigate were holed or otherwise damaged from the fighting, and were no longer serviceable. Someone began waving a white cloth from the frigate’s quarterdeck, but neither Captain Wilson nor Captain Anderson paid it much mind.
As Wilson told his first officer, “Those damn fools set fire to their ship after it had surrendered, and without the means to escape.”
As he finished the sentence, a bigger explosion aboard the enemy blew it to pieces. With a little breathing room, the Grasshopper’s bosun repaired the injured main by nailing some oaken two by fours to it, then by tightly wrapping that timber with three inch cable hauled taut. This should hold the mast up until they could have permanent repairs made in a dockyard.
With ships from the convoy scattering over the bay, Dreadnaught sailed after the two unengaged enemy frigates. Both being of forty guns, they were certainly powerful enough together to take on a sixty four gun third rate. The first decided to try an engagement at arm’s length, and rounded to off Dreadnaught’s beam, opening fire at long range. Many of her shots went high, as Phillips had learned to expect.
Dreadnaught’s shots did not go high, and produced the expected havoc aboard the frigate.
The second frigate, approaching from the thus far unengaged side, came right at Dreadnaught. So far, there had been no casualties aboard the battleship, and Watkins began reinforcing the gun crews on the port beam with all the extra crewmen he could find.
By anchoring at bow and stern, he could send all the sail handlers to the guns, giving him good fire power on both sides.
The enemy ship to starboard began a dubiously thought out slugging match with Dreadnaught. Unless her associate on Dreadnaught’s port side could reduce some of the battleship’s accurate gun fire though, she could well be in trouble.
The big frigate on Dreadnaught’s port beam was now within range, and Watkins ordered the guns to open fire. Both decks erupted, and the enemy frigate’s forecastle was turned to ruin. Guns were overturned, men quilled with splinters, equipment destroyed, and notches chewed into both fore and main masts.
Dreadnaught was taking damage too, although almost all of that was from its starboard opponent. Not having nearly as many guns as Dreadnaught, with weaker scantlings, that frigate could not last long if the fight was prolonged. The cable to the kedge anchor that was holding Dreadnaught’s stern from swinging was shot through, and between wind and current, the axis of the ship changed so the guns would no longer bear on either opponent.
Sail handler’s crew were immediately called from the guns, and the bower cable was slipped. In moments, the ship was under control again, while the guns continued their hammering of the enemy.
The enemy frigate that had been on the starboard beam now decided she wanted no more of this fun, and being astride the channel leading to port, sailed toward that refuge.
A half dozen gun boats had left port as the action began and had made their way out to the scene while attention was focused on the bigger ships. With the opening left by the departing forty gun frigate, the gun boats began their deadly work.
These boats were about fifty feet long and armed with a single 32 pound long gun. They each made their way out to the scene under sail using their fore and aft gaff rig, but dowsed that and changed to oars when within range.
Dreadnaught ignored them at first, concentrating on the remaining frigate, but with that enemy now a sinking wreck, with smoke coming from the forecastle, she looked to the gun boats. Some of them had opened fire, and those 32 pounder guns were a serious problem.
Dreadnaught put her bow on the nearest boat and chased her down. She had just cleared her gun away and fired into Dreadnaught’s bow, before that same bow ran her over. The gun boat rolled over, spilling her men and the big gun into the harbor. Guns on both broadsides began picking off the other individual boats. A single ball from one of the big guns was enough to smash a lightly built gun boat. Several tried to quit the action and return to shore, but the guns pursued them, and all were lost.
Now the squadron began hunting down the individual merchant vessels of the convoy. The area of the bay with sufficient depth to accommodate the cargo vessels was too small to comfortably hold all of them, so some had sought escape in the shallower waters.
Many ran aground, and with no enemy worth considering afloat any longer, Phillips ordered the squadron’s boats in the water. Each was armed with a carronade and manned with Marines among the seamen,
As the brig-sloop Grasshopper backed the boats, they went from ship to ship, afloat or aground, giving the crew of each the chance to load into a boat and row ashore. After the ship was vacated, a boarding party gave it a quick search to examine the cargo, then it was generally set afire.
One ship, loaded with kegs of French-made gunpowder and various sized shot, was manned and followed the warships to sea when they were done with their mischief. If she been exploded where she lay, uncalled for damage could have been done to the British squadron.
Not all of the convoy was captured or destroyed. A significant portion had successfully navigated the shoal waters and made it to an anchorage protected by the shore battery.
Phillips gave some thought to landing his Marines and an armed party of seamen to see if he could take that battery. However, a large formation of troops on shore dissuaded him
from that plan. Napoleon could replace his soldiers by merely drafting more conscripts, while it would take years to train good seamen for the fleet. Trading man for man with the enemy was not an attractive proposal.
*****
Continuing the voyage down the Iberian Peninsula, Phillips mulled over the reports of condition from the squadrons vessels. All had been more or less damaged. Dreadnaught especially had taken some shred blows, probably the worst being that 32 pound ball fire into her bow by the enemy gun boat. Phillips decided to take the squadron to Gibraltar for repair. It would have been better to return to a British home port, but Phillips did not want to have Collingwood get the impression he was a man who needed to run back home after every mishap.
Lying in the lee of a convenient headland, this one unfrequented, Phillips ordered the squadron’s boats to close the prize with the powder and shot aboard. While it was contrary to regulations to pilfer cargo from on board a captured ship, it was proper to burn or sink such a ship. In so doing, it was certainly possible to retain certain cargo to protect it from damage.
The boats were loaded with the captured ammunition and delivered to the three warships. The gunner certified some of the ammunition was damaged due to improper storage while in enemy hands. This material was loaded aboard without undue mention being made of quantities.
The remainder was thoroughly documented and stowed below in secure storage. In due course, it would be landed ashore, where the assessed value would be added to the prize value that would eventually be paid out.
In the meantime, the ‘damaged’ powder and shot could be used in practice without any officious person from the Board of Admiralty taking an undue interest in it.
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
With the captured powder and shot secure, the squadron resumed its southerly course down the Iberian Peninsula. With practice ammunition to spare, Phillips ordered his ships to resume their gunnery practice, this time with live fire.
The carpenter had warned Phillips the liner’s damaged bow would not take much strain, so he did not carry a press of sail. By the same token, Grasshopper, with her fished main, was likewise not fully capable.
Only Supérieure was capable to run down prizes, and she demonstrated her ability to do just that.
The first was a galliot, a small coasting vessel with a simple rig. She was carrying a cargo of hides. Earlier in the deployment, she would have been burned, to avoid sending much needed crew away in her. Now, with Gibraltar up ahead, Phillips decided to put a midshipman aboard her with a bosun’s mate and a few seamen. She could accompany the squadron into Gibraltar.
The galliot had just been manned and the voyage resumed, when Dreadnaught’s lookout called out another sail in sight off the port bow. The sighting was signaled to Supérieure, and she ran it down. This was a bilander, with its curious rig. A two masted vessel, the main used a lateen rig, while the fore carried a more conventional square course and topsail. Its cargo was wheat. Phillips decided to have this vessel join the procession. Grain was becoming a valuable commodity and would find a ready sale.
The final prize seen and taken was a barca-longa, laden with salt fish. This was a Spanish fishing vessel that had been taken by the French and was being used by them to supply provisions to their isolated garrison along the coast.
This vessel provided Phillips with an idea. He hung out the signal for ‘All Captains’, and had his steward lay out a good a dinner as a guest could expect to find. He asked each captain to bring with him a junior lieutenant or an intelligent midshipman.
To the table, Phillips also invited his own sailing master and asked he bring the copy of the French naval signals they had acquired earlier.
They dined on a saddle of mutton from an old ewe that might have died from old age. Captain Anderson though, of Supérieure, brought over a dozen of a decent Bordeaux, which revived the meal. It seemed along with the cargo of salt fish on the recently captured barca-longa, had been a consignment of items for the officer’s mess of some French army garrison. Somehow, these items had missed being included in the inventory.
Expecting other items had also escaped, Phillips resolved to get himself invited to a meal aboard Supérieure, sometime soon.
After the meal was over and the table cleared, Mister Jensen laid out some charts. Phillips announced, “Gentlemen, before we finish our little excursion at Gibraltar, I thought we would have one more try at amusing Mister Bonaparte. As you know, we have the French naval signal book for the rest of this month.”
“Since it will no longer be valid after this month, we may as well use it for what we can. I expect the French authorities have already suspected their codes have been copied, but these suspicions may not have circulated down here to the wilds of Iberia.”
“We have the barca-longa the French have been using to supply their isolated garrisons. I propose to sail this vessel right up to one of those irritating batteries they use to protect small harbors. The one Mister Jensen suggested serves as a haven for coastal traffic that may be in danger from one of our warships.”
“I think Dreadnaught will remain offshore, with Grasshopper a little closer in, but well within signaling distance. Supérieure will come along in chase, pursuing the barca-longa, firing off her chase guns. I hope she and the chase make a good show of it for their audience, the officers and gunners of this battery Mister Jensen has marked on the chart. We want that garrison to be well entertained.”
“Not knowing if the supply vessel is due to visit any time soon, it will be necessary to supply an emergency visit. The vessel will, of course, fly the appropriate signal, and sail right up under the battery’s guns.”
“Mister Jensen tells me there is adequate depth right under the guns for the barca-longa to anchor. The guns are situated high enough that they will be unable to fire at the craft once she is in close.”
“I think we will schedule this little show for tomorrow evening. My weather prognosticator assures me we should have an overcast sky then, so there will be no undue illumination from the moon. Do we have any questions?”
CHAPTER THIRTY
It was late afternoon when the play started. Out of sight of land, the actors took their places. Dreadnaught and Grasshopper patrolled slowly along the coast, well beyond gunshot range from shore. Supérieure and the barca-longa entered the scene, and were ‘discovered’ by the third rate. Dreadnaught made a great deal of noise firing at the quarry, enough noise that Phillips was sure the shore battery must have heard it.
For added drama, the barca longa neared shore a few miles north of the battery. Dreadnaught followed her, thundering away. Grasshopper was now far in her wake, unable to keep up with her weakened main mast.
Dreadnaught was in no better condition, her weakened bow admitting water at an alarming rate.
The barca-longa almost missed the little battery protected cove, as if she had forgotten about it. At the last minute, the battery fired a gun, and the little fishing vessel came about and came under the battery’s guns, flying her recognition signal.
Dreadnaught hove to just out of gunshot range and launched her boats. The boats appeared to be attempting to cut out the quarry, but the shore guns pounding away seemed to have laid that plan to rest.
Grasshopper had by now made her way up to join Dreadnaught. Phillips now had the pumps manned continuously, while getting a sail fothered over the leaks in the hull. He was not going to be able to remain long on this location.
The troops ashore had launched a guard boat that was patrolling out past the barca-longa.
As darkness fell, the Marines and armed seamen hidden in the empty holds of the fishing vessel came out and stretched their legs. The plan had been to load them into the launch the vessel carried on deck, but a pier extended out from shore, and showing a little canvas up forward pushed her up to it.
The guns were pounding away, and nobody from the battery was paying a bit of attention to them. The armed men formed up on shore and quietly listened to orders.
The light from the gun flashes showed the path up to the battery. The guns were up on a ledge probably twenty feet above sea level.
The men made it up the path, which led them to a closed wicker gate closing off the guns from the rest of the facility. Apparently the gate was meant to keep out wandering animals, since it would never bar a determined human.
The guns were mounted in stonework embrasures on ground that had been leveled off. The excess material had been thrown off the bluff and had formed a steep gravel slope down to the beach that could be climbed only with much effort and time. The final few yards were a vertical climb up a vertical rock face. The rear of the battery bordered onto a steep cliff extending upwards another twenty feet or so. There was no path up that cliff. The only access to the battery was by the route they had just used.
Two caves had been dug back into the cliff, perhaps to be used as a magazine for ammunition storage. Several stonework huts had been erected in the rear of the guns. Plastered with clay and straw, they looked substantial enough, and they could probably be utilized as barracks for the duty gunners.
Below and to the south, there were remains of a fishing village, Most of the buildings had been destroyed, but a few looked as though they could be habitable. The village was built at a level above the beach that was above any wave action. In that area there was a wide path up the face of the cliff that would probably allow access to carts and small vehicular traffic.
The former inhabitants of the village were likely dead or dispersed. The logical inhabitants now would be off-duty gunners.
Captain Wallace, in the report he would later draft, would say the area was accessible to attack from above. Guerillas could descend the rock face on ropes to attack the gun crews on duty, then wall off the path that led upwards from the beach to prevent reinforcements from the village.
The gunners were hard at work at their weapons, with never a though of what might be happening away from their little world. It was not necessary to break down the gate, Corporal Hendricks merely reached through and lifted the bar. A push, opened the gate, and the men poured through. The Marines had bayonets fixed to their muskets, while the seamen carried a variety of weapons, from pistols to cutlasses, including axes and pikes.
HMS DREADNAUGHT: A John Phillips Novel Page 11
